The terms “print”, “printing” and “marking” as used herein are to be broadly interpreted to encompass any action or process involving the production or output of sheet media having text, images, graphics and/or other indicia formed thereon by any process, such as ink jet or electrophotographic processes, for example. The terms “printer” and “printing system” as used herein are to be broadly interpreted to encompass any device, apparatus or system that is loaded or otherwise utilizes one or more stacks of sheet media and is capable a “printing” action. Examples of such equipment and/or systems include, without limitation, desktop printers, network printers, standalone copiers, multi-function printer/copier/facsimile devices, and high-speed printing/publishing systems. Additionally, such sheet media can be of any type or kind, such as paper or polymeric film, for example. Furthermore, such exemplary embodiments of equipment and/or systems can output indicia on the sheet media using any printing or marking substance, such as ink, toner or colorant, for example, in monochrome (e.g., black) or one or more colors, or any combination thereof.
Printing systems are well known and commonly available in a wide variety of types, kinds and configurations. Volumes of paper and other media are processed each day using such printing systems, generally with minimal problems and/or difficulties. However, discontinuities in performance and operation do occur in these printing systems and such occurrences are sometimes attributed to jams caused by misfeeds or multi-feeds of the sheet media being used, such as paper, polymeric transparencies or other media.
Significant efforts have been directed to improving media transport pathways and components, and considerable improvements have been achieved. It seems, however, that less attention has been paid heretofore to improving the condition of the media itself, and particularly the state of the media at the time of loading into a component of the printing system, such as a media supply tray.
As an example, adhesion between adjacent sheets of media can often occur as a result of manufacturing and/or packaging processes. This condition is sometimes referred to as “edge weld”, and it can cause multiple sheets of media to be simultaneously drawn into and/or fed along the media pathway. This is undesirable and occasionally results in the printing system undergoing an operational discontinuity. To minimize the difficulties encountered due to edge weld and/or other undesirable conditions, instructions and training are often provided that include techniques for preparing and loading sheet media into a printing system. Such techniques, however, may not be performed correctly or, in some cases, may not be performed at all. As such, the undesirable conditions of the sheet media discussed above often remain present and result in performance discontinuities which are desirable to avoid.
Another issue associated with the loading of sheet media into a component of a printing system, such as a media supply tray, is the physical challenge of fitting the stack of sheet media into the tray. For sheets of media to be correctly and consistently drawn into and fed along the media pathways of the printing system, it is desirable for the supply of sheet media to be captured within the tray or other supply component. This assists in maintaining a consistent orientation of the media within the tray for uniform presentation of the sheets of media to the feeding mechanism. As such, the tray and/or component parts thereof are normally adjusted to closely fit around the sheet media stored therein. Unfortunately, this arrangement often makes the proper loading a stack of sheet media into the tray a challenging task.
Due to the difficulties of loading an entire stack of media into the supply tray at one time, other techniques are attempted by users and/or operators of printing systems. For example, in one such technique a stack of sheet media is divided into smaller portions, which are then individually loaded into the supply tray. While these portions are usually somewhat more manageable to physically handle, the resulting load of sheet media will normally consist of multiple small portions that are often not uniformly stacked and may have considerable variability in orientation and/or presentation to the feeding mechanism. As a result, misfeeds, multi-feeds and other conditions can occur and result in performance discontinuities.
The embodiments of packaged sheet media and method of using the same of the present disclosure have been developed to overcome these and other problems and disadvantages.